Radburn City PDF

INTRODUCTION
• Radburn is located in New Jersey, 12 miles from New York City.
• Radburn, a planned community, was started in 1929 by the City Housing

Corporation from the plans developed by Clarence Stein and Henry Wright.
• The concept of the "new town" grew out of the older planned communities in
Europe and the work of Ebenezer Howard and Patrick Geddes.
• The intent was to build a community which made provisions for the complexities
of modern life, while still providing the amenities of open space, community
service and economic viability.
• The community was intended to be a self-sufficient entity, with residential,

commercial and industrial areas each supplementing the needs of others.
It is America's first garden community, serving as a world wide example of the

harmonious blending of private space and open area. Radburn provided a prototype
for the new towns to meet the requirements for contemporary good living. The
residential areas include every type of housing unit with a wide range of cost.
l Size of 149 acres, includes 430 single family homes, 90 row houses, 54
semi-attached houses and a 93 apartment unit, as well as a shopping
center, parks and amenities.
l One of the most publicized, long-lived and influential models of

rational planning
l A partially built, planned settlement in northern New Jersey Represents

the influence of the English Garden City rational, scientific planning
l Represented many of the basic principles of planning theory

from 1930s to 1960s
l that the maximum radius for walking distance from the home to
the community center should be only 1/4 mile (400m).
l Shopping areas are situated at intersecting traffic streets on the outside

corners rather than at the center of the unit.
OBJECTIVES OF RADBURN:
l Decentralized, self-contained settlements, organized to promote environmental
considerations by conserving open space, harnessing the auto and promoting
community life; key features:
ü hierarchical transportation systems
ü cul-de-sacs
ü footpath systems
ü underpasses
ü shopping center
ü ideal size of 30,000 ppl
ü homogeneity
ü large-scale development
ü clustered superblock
ü mixed-use
ü Interior park
Design elements:
l Super Block.
l Specialized Highway system.
l Complete separation of
vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
l Park as backbone of
the neighborhood.
l Turned around houses
RADBURN’S PLANNING CRITERIAS :
Ø The street plan formed a pattern of
rectangular blocks divided into
rectangular lots that were usually
very narrow to conserve on utility
lines and very deep to conserve on
streets.
Ø The curvilinear design was then
revised to give some resemblance of
character to the subdivision to
subdue to deadly monotony of
parallel streets stretching to infinity.
Ø When parking is desired on each side
of the street, the right of way is
between 54- 64 feet wide, pavement
width 36 feet.
Ø It suggests parking on one side only
since the traffic lanes should not be
less than 10 feet wide.
q Cul-de-sac and the loop street
ü The cul-de-sac, or dead-end street,

came into use to eliminate through
traffic in a positive manner.
ü Cul-de-sac terminate in a circular to
retain their inherent advantages, they
should be short-a maximum length of
450 feet is recommended.
ü Long cul-de-sacs, induce accelerated
traffic speeds and render access for
service and fire protection more
complicated.
ü It eliminates the necessity for the
turnaround and provides the
continuous circulation that is required
by some communities to assure no
interference with the accessibility of
fire protection and other services.
Layout of housing units
ü The houses were oriented in

reverse of the conventional
placement on the lot.
ü Kitchens and garages faced the

road, living rooms and bedrooms
turned towards the garden.
ü Pathways provided uninterrupted

pedestrian access to a continuous
park strip, which led large common
open spaces with the center of the
superblock.
q Separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic: It was accomplished by
doing away with the traditional grid-iron street pattern and replacing it with an
innovation called the superblock.
What is a superblock?
The superblock is a large block of land
surrounded by main roads. The houses are
grouped around small cul-de-sacs, each of which
has an access road coming from the main roads.
The basic layout of the community introduced

the "super-block" concept, cul-de-sac (cluster)
grouping, interior parklands, and separation of
vehicular and pedestrian traffic to promote
safety.
Every home was planned with access to park

walks. There are extensive recreation programs
planned for the entire community. While the A diagram showing the street network
orientation is primarily toward children, there is of Radburn and its nested hierarchy.
also a full range of adult activities. Some of the Separate pedestrian paths run through
programs are: Tot Lot, Radburn PreSchool, the green spaces between the culs-
de-sac and through the central green
sports, aerobics, amateur dramatics, library,
spine.
clubroom facilities.
Radburn concept applications- Examples
• Los Angeles, Virginia, Columbia, Maryland (U.S.A)
• Coventry, Stevenage (U.K)
• Vallingby, Sweden
• Chandigarh, India
• Brazilia, Brazil
• Section of Osaka, Japan
• Wellington, New Zealand
Failure of Radburn planning

• The design of Radburn believed that people would actively use the front of the
houses facing the greenways. In reality, people come and "leave" from the back
of the houses and they use vehicles rather than pedestrian access.
• More people and children walking and playing in the little driveways and cul-de-
sacs than on the actual greenways.
• Also, homeowners prefer more personal land around their homes rather than
sharing a large green space in common.
Merits of Radburn planning
1. Compared to contemporary developments, the Radburn plan is more
safer, orderly, convenient, spacious and peaceful.
2. Many developers have used one or more aspects of the Radburn plan and its
implementation in their own suburbs.
3. Radburn idea is now the suburban model of choice.
4. From a sociological point of view, Radburn not only exemplifies an ideally
planned place to live, but it establishes a real mode or plan of living.

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INTRODUCTION

• Radburn is located in New Jersey, 12 miles from New York City.

• Radburn, a planned community, was started in 1929 by the City Housing

• The community was intended to be a self-sufficient entity, with residential,

It is America's first garden community, serving as a world wide example of the

l One of the most publicized, long-lived and influential models of

l A partially built, planned settlement in northern New Jersey Represents

l Represented many of the basic principles of planning theory

l Shopping areas are situated at intersecting traffic streets on the outside

ü The cul-de-sac, or dead-end street,

ü The houses were oriented in

ü Kitchens and garages faced the

ü Pathways provided uninterrupted

The basic layout of the community introduced

Every home was planned with access to park

Failure of Radburn planning

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